# Why doesn't \pagestyle{empty} work on the first page of a chapter?

Here's a minimal case of the problem:

\documentclass{book}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\chapter{The first}

\newpage

\ldots but not this one.

\end{document}


I've surmised (by removing it) that the problem has something to do with the \chapter line. But what caused this issue and how do I correct it?

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I had to look at \ldots twice, I thought it said \idiots. –  Nicholas Hamilton May 25 '13 at 13:41

The page style for the first page of a chapter is set internally (in the book and report document classes) to be plain; you can change this behaviour by adding the following lines to the preamble of your document:

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\chapter{\if@openright\cleardoublepage\else\clearpage\fi
\thispagestyle{empty}% original style: plain
\global\@topnum\z@
\@afterindentfalse
\secdef\@chapter\@schapter}
\makeatother


or, using the etoolbox package:

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\patchcmd{\chapter}{plain}{empty}{}{}


If the plain style is not needed elsewhere, then you can redefine it to be the empty page style; this can be done with:

\makeatletter
\let\ps@plain\ps@empty
\makeatother


Finally, in the scrbook document class (from the KOMA-Script bundle), the style for the first page of chapters can be changed simply by redefining the \chapterpagestyle command, as in:

\renewcommand*\chapterpagestyle{empty}


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If one doesn't need the plain pagestyle elsewhere, the easiest way is to say \let\ps@plain\ps@empty (surrounded by the usual pair of commands). Your code can be simplified with etoolbox as \patchcmd{\chapter}{plain}{empty}{}{} –  egreg Jun 2 '11 at 21:26
@egreg: yes. I will add theses remarks to my answer. Thank you. –  Gonzalo Medina Jun 2 '11 at 21:28
It always surprises me how quickly questions are answered (especially when I plan to self-answer). I appreciate knowing other ways to do things, however. So thanks. When I've had this issue in the past, I almost always want to change just one chapter and not every chapter in a document, so \thispagestyle is the usual solution. –  Jon Ericson Jun 2 '11 at 21:38

The \chapter command internally uses \thispagestyle{plain}. Add \thispagestyle{empty} immediately after \chapter.

\documentclass{book}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\chapter{The first}
\thispagestyle{empty}

\newpage

\ldots but not this one.

\end{document}

-
I've had this problem at least twice and probably many more times, so I figured writing (and answering) this question would help me remember. I'll likely accept this answer when I'm able. Thanks. –  Jon Ericson Jun 2 '11 at 21:21
@Jon: Actually, I like your answer better. –  lockstep Jun 2 '11 at 21:24

The reason this happens is that the \chapter macro resets the pagestyle for that page. It makes sense when you think about it since you usually want the first page of a chapter to look different than other pages. For instance, if the page number normally sits on the top of the page, you will want to move it to the bottom of the chapter title page. It would look strange otherwise.

There are a number of fixes for the problem, but the easiest is to put \thispagestyle{empty} immediately after the \chapter macro.

If you'd rather change every chapter page, you could use the memoir class and redefine the chapter pagestyle:

\makepagestyle{chapter}